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Edtior
Posted Apr 26, 2009 12:44 PM
Iombi school opens door to IT world
The Yombi Community School in the Ialibu district of Southern Highlands Province came alive on April 1 with the donations of five
computers and other items worth of K25,000 from the New Zealand High Commission in Port Moresby.
The school will have up-to-date software installed, configured and new database customised for the students and the staff. This
means that reports and exams can be prepared effectively on time.
New Zealand High Commissioner to PNG Neils Holm presented the items and was highly overwhelmed by the benefits that the community
will get from the project.
Mr Holm said it was a pioneer project that will reap benefits for the future generations if managed well.
While fascinated by the traditional welcome by the locals, he also urged them to live up with the customs and cultures as it will
attract more tourists into the province.
Imbonggu MP Francis Awesa earmarked K80,000 to the project and said he would install seven V-sat phones in the electorate. He said
one of the satellite phones would be installed at Iombi Primary school.
Mr Awesa said the project would cost about K700,000, according to a quotation he received from the Telikom PNG Limited, adding he
was pleased to support the project in line with his vision to bring tangible developments to the electorate.
Southern Highlands Deputy Governor and MP for Mendi Open Pastor Isaac Joseph also earmarked K20,000 to the cause and said the
project was a first of its kind in the province, adding it would be grateful if extended to other schools in the province,
The architecture behind this project was John Kongoi. Mr Kongoi holds a BE (Hons) in Electrical and Electrical Engineering at the
University of Canterbury in New Zealand. He is the founder of Jcomplex Technologies Ltd[www.jcomplextech.com], a community-orientedfirm specialising in
IT for rural education, electrification, communication, industrial automation and process control. Mr Kongoi sees huge benefit for
the community and has donated over K20,000 worth of software by again soughing assistance from the New Zealand Government and is
the architect behind the design of school database. The company hopes to extend to rest of the schools in the province. He hopes to
make this a special case where technologies in rural communities see the equal light as urban centres and many other areas around
the world.
With the internet connection, this rural school hopes to have well researched and educational materials from New Zealand schools
at rural locations like Yombi. This will see students from Yombi doing comparatively on equal footing in education and the likes.
This means they do not have to be necessarily educated in New Zealand to have similar educational standards, Mr Kongoi said. He
said the project has created seven employment opportunities and the prospects for further employment will increase when few more
computers are added
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